Monday, June 16, 2014

Our featured artist of June is Carrie Michael from Kalamazoo, MI. Carrie has extensive creative experience with polymer clay and has perfecting her skills on metal clay since 2012. Her work is whimsical and dreamy! Carrie is giving away a copper metal clay english style ocarina pendant to a lucky reader. Read on to learn how to enter the giveaway and win a piece of her amazing art!

Why did you pick your shop name Carrie Michael?
I picked my own name so that it was easy to find me!

When did you first become interested in Metal Clay? How long have you been designing jewelry using Metal Clay?
Metal Clay called to me the first time I heard of it, but I didn’t have
the available funds to work with it at the time. I sold polymer clay
jewelry until I built up enough profit to buy my own kiln and fine
silver supplies. Metal Clay has been a part of my life since June of
2012, and I am amazed every time a piece of “clay” goes into the kiln
and comes out solid metal, it feels like magic every time, I adore it!

Would you tell us your creative process?
For my detailed pieces I normally start by making a digital drawing.
Once I am happy with it, I scale the drawing down to size, print it, and
trace the drawing onto dry metal clay. After carving, detailing and
engraving, I finish the piece in the kiln. Burnish, tumble, polish, and
then make a mold so that more of the same design can be completed
faster to keep prices affordable! The entire process for the giveaway
piece is too long to answer here, but there is a tutorial on my blog: carriemichael.blogspot.com/2014/06/metal-clay-ocarina-tutorial.html

What inspires you?
The beauty and magic of our natural world.

Copper english style ocarina pendant with an included purple sapphire by Carrie Michael

Why did you design the giveaway piece? What is special about your giveaway piece?
Logging in to etsy to read the Metal Clay Heads Team blog, I noticed
other recommended groups to join. One of them was for handmade
ocarinas. I didn’t join the group, but it got me thinking, I bet I
could do that out of metal! My husband is an ocarina player, and a nice
sturdy ocarina that he couldn’t drop and break would be a welcome gift.
It took quite a bit of trial and error as well as research online to
figure out how to make one from metal clay, but I think I have a process
that works well. My husband helps me tune them to make sure that they
function properly as a musical instrument in addition to being a piece
of jewelry. My notes on construction are on my blog so that other metal
clay artists can make their own if they wish.

I decided to give away a copper ocarina pendant because it is a unique
item that can’t be found anywhere else. This one is the 5th that I
made, and since I was still perfecting my design there will never be
another exactly like it! It has both copper and white copper (*contains
nickel) on the front, and an included purple sapphire for fun.

What are the major challenges when creating metal clay jewelry?
In relation to this piece specifically, metal clay can’t be worked in
the same way as ceramic clay, which is traditionally used for making
ocarinas. That makes it extra difficult to get the voicing carved and
lined up properly, as well as to get the tuning right. Concert tuning
would be a nightmare, so this piece is simply “in tune with itself.”

What do you enjoy most about working in Metal Clay?
Permanence and sparkle! Every medium has it’s benefits, but a finished
metal clay piece should last for generations. It brings me great joy to
know that my silver pieces will continue to glitter long after I am
gone.

What is your greatest ambition as a Metal Clay artist?
To quit my day job and spend every day making art for people to enjoy!

What is the biggest mistake you've ever made? What did you learn from it?
Making complex detailed pieces and then moving to the next step without
doing a test sample first, sometimes leading to irreparable harm to days
worth of work. I do this in every media I ever use. Learning the hard
way to do test samples is something that has taken years to sink in.

So here are the rules to enter the MCHs blog giveaway:Every person is eligible to enter the blog
giveaway with up to FOUR (4) entries. How can you get an entry? You
can do any of the following and then let us know that by leaving a
comment here so we can keep track.

Follow our blog = 1 entry

Check out featured artist and post favorite piece on the blog = 1 entry

Fan-fiction Challenge Poll

Team Challenges

Every quarter we have a Team Challenge, meant to stimulate our creativity. The entries are submitted for vote and the winner gets bragging rights, a photo of their piece on the blog's banner. In addition, they issue the next challenge.

To view past challenges, click here or search the blog for the word "challenge".